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Dance Drama
'' Dance Drama ''is the eleventh book in the Middle School Experience. It talks about the end-of-the-year dance and all the drama associated with it. The Farewell Dance, the event that Lakewood holds at the end of every school year, is approaching, but unlike her peers, Alex is not looking forward to it. Many of her friends are planning to attend the dance with dates, and Alex is less than thrilled to see her friends going crazy over some dumb boys. However, she is dealing with a dumb boy on her own, when her nemesis, Matt, continuously pesters her to be his date to the dance. Will the drama ruin Alex's last memories of sixth grade? Summary On a mid-May morning at Lakewood, Alex goes to her homeroom class, where she watches the morning announcements. The announcements are pretty standard, but everyone in Alex's class perks up when the Farewell Dance, Lakewood's annual end-of-year dance, is announced. Alex is not very excited about the dance (due to her previous experience with Lakewood's last dance, and she quickly becomes annoyed by all the excitement over it. In social studies class, Jessie tries to talk to Alex about the dance, but she is still negative about it. Before class starts, their classmate Matt walks up to them and asks them about the Farewell Dance. After Matt annoys Alex, Alex tells him to go back to his old school, which angers her; Jessie tells Alex that she needs to be nicer to Matt, especially since he's moving back to California (his dad's show didn't get picked up). After class, Alex and Jessie meet up with Arabella, who wants to talk about the dance, much to Alex's dismay. Arabella tells her friends that the student council is doubling as a dance committee to plan out and prepare for the dance and invites them to attend the next committee meeting so they can share some of their ideas. Alex decides to attend the meeting, but only to see if the dance is really worth it. On Wednesday, Alex goes to the dance committee meeting with Arabella and Ellie. There are many sixth and seventh graders at the meeting, much to Alex's pleasant surprise, but the Popular Sensations are there, too, much to her dismay. Joseph, the eighth grade president, commences the meeting and introduces the chosen theme, a beach theme. The two eighth graders that came up with the theme, Emily and Rebekah, announce their ideas for the theme, but Alex finds it mediocre and uninteresting. Arabella suggests that they should have a section in the gym where students can play in sand, but the Popular Sensations and older students make fun of her for it. As the meeting goes on, more people begin suggesting ideas, but Clarissa believes that the ideas are babyish and suggests that the beach theme focus on romance. Alex argues for Arabella's sand idea and explains that there should be a sandbox area in the back of the gym. To Alex's surprise, mostly everyone seems on board with that idea, and Alex becomes more optimistic about the Autumn Dance. At the end of the meeting, Alex decides that she wants to attend the Farewell Dance after all. The next morning, Alex, Chloe, Gail, and Leah buy their tickets for the dance and decide to hang out until homeroom starts. They talk about the dance when Maryann runs up to them and announces that she has a date to the dance; everyone except Alex is excited for her. Matt walks up to the girls, along with a classmate named Eddie, who is in the drama club with Chloe. The boys reveal that they're going to the dance together along with Eddie's friends, and Eddie asks Chloe to be his date to the dance, and she accepts. Matt attempts to ask Alex to the dance, but she threatens to punch him, and the boys walk away. Alex's friends begin talking about dates, and Alex begins to realize that the Farewell Dance is much dance-oriented than she thought and begins to regret buying her ticket. Over the next few days, more of Alex's friends get asked to the dance by guys in their grade, and Alex's feelings about the Autumn Dance become negative once again. Alex considers skipping the next student council meeting, where the dance committee will begin decorating the gym, but Ellie convinces her to attend. Gail attends the meeting, too, but she worries about her boyfriend Blake, who hasn't asked her to the dance yet. Unfortunately for Alex, the Popular Sensations and Matt attend the meeting, and Joseph assigns Alex and Matt to help set up the sandbox, along with Gail and an eighth grade council member named Amy. Matt explains that Blake had invited him to the meeting, but Alex believes that he showed up because he thought she would be there. As the sandbox crew works, Amy asks the sixth graders if they're attending the Farewell Dance. Gail vents about Blake, and Amy and Matt try to reassure that he'll ask her to the dance soon. Alex makes a rude comment about the dance, and Amy tries to reassure her that it won't be that bad. They talk about their summer plans, and to Alex's surprise, Matt seems sad when he talks about moving, and Alex begins to feel bad for him. Unfortunately, Matt ruins the moment by suggesting that his parents will fly his friends out to California to visit him, another flirting tactic towards Alex. Alex tries to hit Matt with a hammer, but Amy stops her and warns her not to ruin another school dance, which puts Alex in a worse mood. Arabella and Robbie walk up to her and Gail and inform Gail that there's a surprise for her in the hallway. The surprise turns out to be an elaborate dance proposal from Blake, who finally asks Gail to the dance; Gail happily accepts while an annoyed Alex and a jealous and sad Matt looks on. The next day, Alex is in a funk about the Farewell Dance and ends up avoiding her friends all day. However, Jessie walks up to her at the end of the school day and invites her on a shopping trip to the mall with her and her mom. Jessie decides to find an outfit for the dance, but Alex has a bad attitude about it and the dance in general. When they go to the food court, the girls see the Popular Sensations, and Alex rants about how glad she is that sixth grade is ending. Jessie finally asks Alex if she's okay, and Alex tells her about the student council meeting yesterday and her feelings about her friends having dates to the dance. Jessie reassures her that their friends won't ditch Alex for the boys and tells her not to let her detractors at Lakewood get to her, and Alex begins to feel better about her situation. The last day of school finally arrives, which is a day of watching movies and signing yearbooks. In language arts class, Alex tries to end things on good terms with Marylin, but when Marylin rejects her, Alex finally accepts that her former friend is a lost cause. At lunch, Alex's friends discuss all of their good moments that had happened to them during the year, and though Alex doesn't have a lot of good moments, she had ones that helped her learn a lot about herself. After school, Alex and Jessie reminisce on their year as they clean out their lockers when the Popular Sensations walk up to them and try to start trouble. When Clarissa makes a taunt about Alex and Matt being a couple, Alex tries to punch Clarissa, who quickly steps back. Alex pushes the Popular Sensations out the way before she and Jessie walk outside to the bus canopy. Outside, the girls see Freddy talking to Matt; Freddy explains that he had met Matt at the student council meeting the day before. Matt tries to talk to Alex, but Alex refuses to talk to him. The students are instructed to go to their buses, and Alex says goodbye to Jessie and Freddy. As Alex walks away, Matt pulls her aside and asks Alex to the dance, and once Alex realizes that moving away is harder on him than she had assumed, she reluctantly agrees to be his date. At home, Alex attends the end-of-year pool party with her sister before getting ready for the dance and going to Chloe's house, whom she would be getting a ride from to the dance and where the girls would have a sleepover after the dance. At Chloe's house, Chloe reveals that Eddie told her that Matt told him that he had asked Alex to the dance, and Alex is annoyed that Matt has told other people about them. After the girls finish getting ready, they get a ride from Brian (the Winters' family driver) to Lakewood. Outside the gym, Principal Watson and Vice-Principal Clayton are outside collecting tickets and checking off names on the attendance list, and the two administrators surprise Alex with their kindness. Once the girls go inside the gym, they are surprised and pleased to see that the dance is much better than expected, with an extravagantly decorated theme and a festive environment. The rest of their friends catch up with them, including Matt, who is dressed like a douchebag compared to the other boys. Alex decides to ditch Matt and go to the dance floor with her hands. At one point, Alex accidentally throws a beach ball at Clarissa's head, the Popular Sensations walk over to her and Leah try to start trouble, but Gail walks over to them and tells them that she and Blake shared their first kiss, which angers Clarissa (Blake's ex-girlfriend). Leah and Gail discuss the kiss before the subject changes to Alex ignoring Matt, much to her dismay. Matt walks up to the girls and presents flowers to Alex, who refuses to accept them. Matt then asks Alex to dance with him. Alex tries to get out of it, but the DJ announces that it's boys' free choice dance, and Alex has no choice to dance with Matt. During the dance, Alex feels incredibly awkward, and she and Matt decide to make conversation about their summer plans. Matt asks Alex if she will visit him in LA, which angers Alex and starts an argument between her and Matt. Alex reveals that she only agreed to be Matt's date because she felt sorry for him, and Matt snaps at her before storming away. Alex decides to find her friends and forget about Matt. After a night of junk food, dancing, photos, and winning a sandcastle contest, the Farewell Dance finally comes to an end. The student council begins cleaning everything up, and Alex and her friends decide to help clean until Chloe tells them that Brian's car is outside waiting for them in the carpool lane. The girls go out to the carpool lane and talk about the dance. Alex tells her friends about telling off Matt. Leah notices that Matt is standing by himself, and once Alex sees that he looks extremely miserable, she begins to feel bad for being rude to him. She walks up to him and the two apologize for their actions before finally deciding to be friends--albeit social media friends. Alex then leaves Lakewood with her friends, happy that her sixth grade year had ended with a bang. Characters (in order of appearance) * Alex Sanders * Kristina Jaffe * Jessie Sanchez * Matt Farrington * Arabella Wilson * Ellie Jackson * Robbie James * Jeremy Parker * Divya Tikku * Joseph Newman * Emily Collins * Rebekah Hao * Sia Ansell * Gabby Evans * Samantha Nevels * Martin Bell * Clarissa Simpson * Marylin Roberts * Anusha Kaur * Chloe Winters * Gail Edwards * Leah Harrison * Eddie Olson * Vanessa Lopez * Amy Murphy * Anderson Moffitt * Blake Spinelli * Cecelia Sanchez * Regina Daniels * Daphne Carson * Freddy Hamilton * Jerry Sanders * Carrie Sanders * Eliza Cantrell * Shannon Winters * Principal Watson * Vice-Principal Clayton Trivia *This book was rewritten four times. First edition, 2008. Fourth edition, 2018. *At first, this book was going to be about Gail contracting tonsilitis before the dance and worrying about not being able to go, but the creator thought that was a stupid idea and changed up the plot. Category:Stories